Chapter 35: Chapter 35

NICOLE

“WE HAD to do it considering the fact that Berkely’s men scared Frank Hanks out of town”

Not that he had anything to do with Callan getting shot but they did Tina Hanks a favor really. She wouldn’t oust her husband as an abuser but everyone with eyes could see it.

With Frank out of the way I knew it was hard for Tina to cope with a new life, a life that didn’t involve your narcissistic of a husband telling you what to do, a life without a man making you feel insignificant and small.

“It’s their first sleep over, Nicole. Connor might be a social fucking butterfly but Jr is rough around the edges”

“You mean he takes after you?”

He did. Jr took after Callan that every time I looked at him, he looked like a mini-Callan minus the grumpiness.

“He’s my kid after all”, Callan said proudly as I hooked my hand with his.

He tried to hide it but I saw the rage simmer in his eyes for a sec at the jewel gracing my finger.

“Tina just needs some time to process it all. Her life’s gonna change whether she likes it or not and our kids like her. Connor most especially”

“He’s too young to have a crush”

“Well, he seems to have a liking to her, they bonded the night you were shot, he hasn’t stopped gushing about her since they spent more time at the hospital. Makes me jealous now that I’m saying that out loud but I’m glad the boys like Tina and they are friends with her kids”

Stirring on the couch, his thumbs grazing the back of my hand tenderly, his dark eyes met mine.

“Frank was a bastard; I only took him out of the picture—”

“Because Tina was never going to leave him? Yeah, I get it. Being manipulated and abused for so many years kinda takes a toll on someone. You become too scared to speak out, too scared to act tough because at the end of the day your abuser has already gotten under your skin, already made you feel scarred you know?”

Swiping hair from my face, his hand roped around my waist pulling me closer to his frame.

“You don’t have to tell me; I get it but when you are ready, I’ll be all ears—”

“No. What I mean is…I’m ready and first I’ll start with this ring”

I stared at the ring that hadn’t left my finger since I said yes at the altar to Lucas Hawkins. Funny how every year I would stare at it and wish that I had the power to melt it off my finger and now…I wanted it there. To stay there.

“It belonged to my mother. Dad wanted me to have it as part of the ridiculous clause he added to my inheritance. I loved my mother and this was the only thing I had left to remember her with but when I was with Lucas he tainted the ring.

Every time he would hit me, accuse me of being a cheat, I looked at the ring Callan and it looked at me with all the bad decisions I had made since I left your apartment. With time the ring turned into a label I carried around my finger, something to remind me of my shame, that I deserved it.

And every time he chained me to the bed, strip me naked, force himself on me, I would look at the ring with pain and tears clogging my throat telling myself I deserved it. That I deserved to be raped, I deserved the beatings, the—“

“You didn’t deserve all that. No one fucking deserved that”

“I know but now when I look at the ring, Callan I see a survivor. I survived, I gathered enough strength to escape Lucas, to save my boys and I know you don’t like me wearing this ring but this—reminds me that I can be strong just like my mother was”

I hadn’t even noticed I was crying but when his thumbs wiped away the tears from my cheeks, it felt better.

Somehow it felt better releasing all that to a man I was prepared to be with for the rest of my life.

“It wasn’t about the God damn ring, sweetheart”

Sniffling, trying to contain my tears, I looked up to him,

“It wasn’t?”

“No. it was about you being courageous enough to tell me about Lucas. I’m not gonna lie, I’m super pissed he did that…to you but again happy that you told me everything. You don’t fucking realize it yet but it’s the first sign to recovery. Speaking up about it with no fear, admitting that you were weak and now you’ve grown some balls. That right there makes me proud”

“Thank you”, I smiled.

Though saying smile was a bit of a stretch. I was pretty sure I had snort around my nostrils, my tears didn’t stop, add in a face bare of makeup and cheeks streaked with tears, I was a complete wreck.

“For what?”

“For being you. The grumpy bodyguard that’s always there for me no matter what. For knowing the right thing to say every time I mess up”

He smiled.

“You are the only woman in this damn forsaken planet that renders me mute Montenegro. I never know the right shit to say to you but I can promise you this, I might be rough around the edges but I’ll never touch you unless you want me to, I’ll never do anything that might hurt you or our boys”

Smiling so hard my cheeks hurt, I laced my hands around his neck.

“I want you to touch me. To mark me as yours, to make love to me like there’s no tomorrow”

His face inches from mine that cocky smile got plastered on his face as his rich scent of sage and citrus filled my nose.

“That’s a big ask, Nicole, you might not be ready”, He was teasing of course.

If anything, jumping on his lap, my butt situated at his covered crotch proved just how much he was teasing. I could feel him, hard and confined.

“Are you sure Mr. Asher? I’m not the one in a sling”

I didn’t get to ride my victory over that statement when his hand found its way to the back of my neck and pulled me so fast, we were kissing.

Un-fucking-leashed was how I felt every time I kissed this man.

He stroked my bottom lip with his tongue begging for entrance and I obliged letting him stroke through my sweet heat, letting him pull my body against his till I lost my fucking mind.

I had kissed guys. A ton shit of them in my youth I lost score but Callan, this man made me forget every damn man before him. My hands shook as I ran my fingers in his hair, my heart leaped and my pussy clenched with need I might as well have came on the spot.

This was love. This was how kissing should have felt like, melting into him, my head full of heady desire, me moaning recklessly into his mouth conveying one message and one message only.

I wanted him to fuck me. To fuck me so hard and assure me this was only the start of what was to come.

Tilting his head as he brought his lips to my ear, Callan whispered,

“I want to take you upstairs and fuck you till your voice is horse from saying my name then I want to make love to every inch of this sweet body all night until you are sore and asleep in my arms. And when you wake up? I want to look in those fucking brown eyes and see a smile I myself put there”

My whole body shivered as his lips found the soft flesh behind my ear, swirling his tongue on it and licking it as if it was drenched in honey.

“Because I’ll do my best to make you smile every damn night right after I make you scream my name sweetheart”

His teeth bit my earlobe and I was too drowned in pleasure to feel the pain or the sexiness that came with the image.

“Take me upstairs”

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A groan vibrated from my chest. Deep and needy.

Opening my eyes, I fisted his dark hair raising my hips in an almost wanton manner. I could feel his breath fan my core. Hot and misty and with a power that had me soaked than a chicken in the rain.

“You’re so damn sexy”, he growled, my cheeks flamed as I met his eyes right at the edge of the bed.

“You’re still dressed”

Making me come almost twice and he hadn’t even showcased his mountain of mouthwatering muscles.

He yanked off his T-shirt one handedly towering before me and pinning my hands over my head.

“Hi”

“Hey”

He leaned over me touching his lips with mine.

“You still nervous?”

He asked, I averted his gaze sucking in a small breath.

“My scars-“

“They don’t change the fact that you’re sexy. I don’t give a damn about them, Nicole”

His lips descended to my throat as he ground his hips against my shaven pussy. Barely containing the moan, my knees drew up around his hips.

“Oh God”

He came back to my lips, taking in my moan like he owned it. Angling me into the kiss, teaching me how to match his greediness for me, teaching me how to follow his lead as he slowly ran his hand down my throat, between my breasts barely grazing my hard nipples.

Every touch of his leaving my skin burning with hot need. His fingers trailed down my ribs, down my navel till my moan became louder and louder.

When his hand finally cupped my pussy, I forgot how to breathe.

“Do you know how badly I want to be inside of you?”

“No”, I barely whispered.

“I’ve been waiting for this for a while”

He shoved a finger inside me, my back arched, my mouth opened but I didn’t make a sound even after his thick finger stretched me.

God that felt right and good and—

“Fuck, Nicole”, He bit my ear mumbling, “I want my name on your lips. I want to hear you say just how much you love me”

He shoved a second finger inside me and stroked deep I couldn’t help crying out.

“Callan”

“That’s right, tell me who’s fucking making you feel good?”

“Oh God…Callan-“

My hips bucked as I shamelessly rode his fingers, clenching around them so hard I wanted them in me forever.

Wiping my hair from my face, taking every moan into his mouth with pride, he kissed me as if he were on the verge of losing control and I wouldn’t blame him. I had lost control the minute he kissed me downstairs.

His fingers driving into me fast, hard, his tongue inside my mouth. I came with an exhale.

He stood up taking off his pants and boxer briefs in mere seconds before he settled his body between my hips this time humping his length against the slit hidden by my inner folds.

“I love you. So much”, Were his words before his fingers drove inside of me again hitting my G-spot.

Thick, rough, hard. Just like I liked it. Just like I needed it.

I clawed his shoulders, I melted into his mouth, into his body, into his words that were nowhere near appropriate but so crude they had my heart and every bit of me soaring.

This man had my body, knew just every spot to hit, just the right amount of pressure to apply to my clit as he showed me the fucking stars.

When his length drove inside me in one fast go, I wasn’t prepared and I hated myself for exhaling a sharp cry that garnered his attention.

“Shit. I’m sorry. You hurt? I didn’t mean to, sweet heart”, He stopped and my eyes watered.

He was big.

Maybe bigger than I remember and I couldn’t take him in. I couldn’t take all of him in.

“I’m sorry. I’m the one who can’t—”

“Take a breath, sweet heart. Just like we practiced, okay? Relax, we’ve done this before and we fit. We fit like a god damn key and lock”

“Key and lock?” I smiled amidst the pain in my body at the moment.

Was that how it felt for him that day? That we fit? And there I was years later thinking that he had only fucked me like he fucked other girls.

“You got that right so that’s how I know you can do it. You ready?”

I nodded and he drove in further replacing the pain with pleasure. So much fucking pleasure that had my clit pulsing like a grandfather clock.

“You’re so deep”

“That’s not every inch”, he said between gritted teeth.

By the time I learnt what that statement meant, my eyes were already rolling back to my head as my vaginal walls got stretched so wide, I felt like I was being ripped apart by a saber tooth tiger.

Then he started moving, fast, giving me every damn inch of him, filling me to the brim, leaving me a whole hot and bothered mess, with a string of incoherent words escaping my lips.

He groaned and I can’t explain how it felt knowing I did that to him., that I affected him the way he affected me, that only I could make him like that.

Vulnerable.

Tender.

He came inside me a few times I lost count because I came far more than him. And every orgasm, every kiss, the feel of his lips on my skin was like fire igniting in my body.

The kind of fire that reawakened your soul.

That made you feel cherished and loved.

I was seated on his lap, his hands at my back steadying me as I rocked up and down on his dick for the…I don’t know? Sixth time in the night? When the telephone against the night stand rung.

I stopped. Callan didn’t look like he gave a fuck.

It continuously rung and I shot a glance at it.

“It could be important”

“Or it could be the guys trying to cock block me”, He said casually, his dick buried deep inside me I could feel him embedded on my hilt.

“Or it could be our boys calling because there’s a problem”

Not happy but reading the concern in my voice, he loosened his arms around me and I stood up immediately feeling his release trail down from my pussy to my thighs.

Naked, going around the bed, I picked the phone up.

“Mom?”

“Connor? Baby is something wrong? Did something happen at Tina’s?”

Callan was already behind me trying to listen in with worried arched brows.

“No. No. Aunt Tina is nice; she gave me the phone to call you. I’m sorry, mommy. I don’t feel good. I want to go home; I want to see you and dad. Please mommy, come get me”

I held a hand to my mouth turning around to face a surprised naked Callan behind me.

I mouthed the words, ‘Connor. He called you dad’

Callan took a step back running his hands in his hair like he couldn’t believe it.

“It’s okay honey. Don’t feel guilty, okay? It’s perfectly normal to miss your parents when you are far away from them. You are dad and I are on our way to get you, okay?”

“Thanks mommy”

“Nicole? Hey am sorry for all this. Jr’s fine but Connor seemed a little off so I called you to sort things out”

“No. No problem at all, Tina. It’s their first sleep over I half expected an emergency or two. Callan and I will be there in ten. Thanks again, Tina”

“No problem at all. See you”

She hung up.

“He said dad?” Callan asked, my heart swelled.

“He misses you and yes I do believe he called you dad”

“This night keeps getting better and better. Nicole…this feels fucking better than anything I’d ever imagined”

“I know”

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

“You think he’ll call me dad again if he sees me”, Callan asked taking his coat and I was already by the door with the car keys.

“I know he will”, I said opening the door only to almost drop the keys when I found Billy Duncan standing on our porch with a huge bottle of whiskey?

“So sorry. Didn’t mean to spook you”, Billy Duncan said and I held a hand over my chest as Callan came up behind me so fast.

“You two off to somewhere? I thought Nicole was at Tina’s and Callan was home alone. My wife’s fault really. I thought I would stop by and have a drink with Callan, I didn’t get the chance to visit after everything that happened”

“It’s not really the right time”, Came Callan’s voice behind me and I slapped his chest.

He had made a friend and I was proud of him.

And it was cute seeing a man on our doorstep with a glass of whiskey to share with Callan.

“Nonsense. Tina’s place is just by the corner. I’ll get the kids. You? Stay and have a drink with your friend before the kids get home”

“He’s not my fucking friend”, Callan grunted enough for me to hear but not enough for a clueless Billy Duncan to hear.

“Be nice. Don’t get drunk”, I kissed his cheek disappearing down the steps to the garage.

Twenty minutes later, I was pulling up in Tina’s driveway. Two minutes later, I was ringing her door bell.

She didn’t answer on the first ring or the second ring.

By the time I rung the door a third time, I was worried, my heart pulsing in my throat I could feel a headache rush in.

I held the door knob turning the damn thing.

The door wasn’t locked and that should have been the first red flag.

I should have turned around and walked back to the car.

Callan had stashed multiples guns in there, plus a burner phone. A phone I could use to call Callan and he would show up in record speed.

But I wasn’t thinking. When it came to my kids being in danger, I never fucking thought about anything.

Which was why, I pushed the door open walking into Tina’s house with my nerves eating my insides.

“Tina?”

No sound.

Everything was fucking silent. The silence that told you something was up and that something was terribly wrong.

“In here!”

Came Tina’s voice and I breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe she hadn’t heard the doorbell and I was letting my fears rule my emotions like before.

“For a moment I thought something was—”

“Mommy!”

“Jr?”

“Don’t move or he gets it”, Tina warned, my voice got lost in my throat at the sight.

Tina standing in her living room with Jr. My boy. Scared shitless. With a gun pointed at the side of his head by a woman I thought was my—

“T-Tina don’t…please, don’t do this—”

“On your knees”, she barked.

Nervously, the bitter sting of betrayal gutting my insides, I slowly dropped to my knees.

“Mommy—”

“You shut it, you little punk! I’ve had enough of you!” Tina THRASHED, pushing the gun’s nozzle hard against Jr’s head, I cried.

“Don’t hurt him! Whatever you want Tina, money. It’s all this is about, right? I can get you money…money beyond your wildest dreams just don’t hurt my boy. He’s a kid…mother to mother please don’t hurt my boy…whatever this is about we can talk it out. About Frank. Is this about him? I know it’s hard starting from scratch, from the abuse—”

“Abuse? And that right there was your first mistake, Nicole Hawkins. Assuming that the meek little woman who follows her husband’s every word, needed your sympathy. Not gonna lie though Frank was an asshole, I was going to get rid of him soon but you guys played into the plan so well I hardly broke a sweat”

Nicole Hawkins? God, it couldn’t be…she couldn’t be. I couldn’t have trusted a woman who

“You work for Lucas? I was your friend! Where’s Connor? Where’s my FUCKING son?”

“Your friend on what basis? Because I talked to you at a barbeque party? Because I threw a smile at you once or twice and showed signs of being abused? Come the fuck on, that doesn’t make us friends. You don’t know shit about me and yet you left your kids with me. A total stranger. And that speaks volumes on what kind of a mother you are”

“WHERE’S CONNOR?”

She laughed, her head lolling back and I tried hard not to scream and beat myself up about how I never saw this.

Saw her for who she was.

“Alive but unconscious. I wouldn’t want him to see all of this especially when he has been a good kid to me. Ooh you don’t know do you?

Of course, you don’t. Do you know how easy it is to manipulate a kid? Say the right words to him and he’ll do anything you ask including betraying his own family. Thanks to Connor, your husband or his associates in Miami won’t come to the rescue this time. Thanks to your little boy we know just how many cameras and alarm systems you have in your home.

You really should have told the kid who his real father is. Can you imagine how hurt Connor felt when I told him Lucas was his father? When I told him Jr is Callan’s son and not him? That you took him away from his father?

That he would never be part of your little family because Jr was the golden child? The kid was hurt real bad, enough to trust that I would take him back to his father. Enough to lie to his mother so she would show up here. Alone”

Connor? He wouldn’t…he was a good kid. He called Callan ‘dad’. He knew we loved him.

“You are lying!”

“Ooh sweetie, I wish I was but that’s the truth. You just can’t trust anyone these days. Me. Billy Duncan. We are cut from the same cloth”

“B-Billy?”

“Oops! Ooh well you were bound to found out eventually. Callan Asher’s probably dead by now. If he drinks the poisoned whiskey of course”

No.